The Virginia Gentleman

Saturday, April 7, 2018

The following is a post from Michael Thompson, President of the Thomas Jefferson Institute.

"The massive "Omnibus" spending plan passed by Congress last month did not include a bail out for insurance companies. There has been little mention of this dramatic development and the consequences are significant and should impact the current Medicaid expansion debate in Virginia's General Assembly.

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander, who worked long and hard to get this insurance company bail out into the recent spending bill, conceded defeat and made this little noticed comment: "... the only choice we have is to go back to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act."

Soon there will be another major effort to reform Obamacare and that outcome could have significant impact here in Virginia. That is why the debate on Medicaid expansion should be set aside until we know what Congress does. Why make a major change when the rules of the game could dramatically change?

The alternative being worked on today is to build on last year's idea promoted by Senators Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy, Ron Johnson and Dean Heller. This plan would move much of the current federal health program to the states, including Medicaid.

This replacement for Obamacare will focus on three areas: 1) lower costs and improve/increase patient choices; 2) give states flexibility and resources to reach these goals; and 3) set federal guidelines for people to choose private coverage if they want.

Medicaid would become a block grant to the states. And this means that Virginia will have to design a program that makes sense within the parameters set out in this new bill, should it pass.

Our General Assembly should not pass Medicaid expansion until the federal playing field is better defined. It should take Medicaid expansion out of the budget with the understanding that once Congress determines in a few months what will happen to Obamacare, then our elected officials can decide how to manage not only Medicaid, but whatever other healthcare responsibilities are handed to the states.

The current Congress is under the gun to pass a repeal-and-replace program that makes sense. The elections this fall will likely bring a number of new liberal Democrats into Congress. How many no one knows but history indicates that the House could well be turned over to the Democrats. This means that any repeal and replace legislation must be passed this spring or summer or nothing will be passed during the current Trump Administration.

The General Assembly will know by Labor Day if Congress has changed the rules and decided to send much of health care, including Medicaid, to the states in one or more huge block grants. At that time, our elected officials can either hold a Special Session and tackle Medicaid expansion or hold off until January after spending quality time figuring out how best to proceed.

But if the General Assembly decides to rush ahead and pass Medicaid expansion knowing major changes could occur, there are a number of questions that it should answer before it approves such a new direction, including:

1) Why should Virginia not experience dramatic budget increases, far beyond current projections, as have other states which expanded Medicaid, and how will it handle that situation? Most states that expanded Medicaid faced 50% or more additional costs than anticipated. Why should Virginia be any different? Will the hospital "bed tax" be increased? If not, then how will these additional budget requirements be met?

2) Will a "work requirement" demand proof of actually looking for a job and seeking better employment by the new Medicaid recipients, or will the legislators simply ask if someone is looking for work? Will volunteering at a local church raking leaves be considered meeting the work requirement? This needs to be spelled out and it needs to be clear and serious.

3) Many doctors refuse to take Medicaid patients because of lousy government reimbursements rates. Adding 400,000 people to Medicaid will make it more difficult for these patients to see a limited supply of doctors. Why is this issue avoided?

4) How is the state going to be sure that those who are enrolled in Medicaid deserve to be in the program? What is the qualification/certification process? Does such a system exist today for the current Medicaid population? Illinois is saving $350 million a year with a better qualification process and Pennsylvania is saving $300 million a year according to the Foundation for Government Accountability.

For the General Assembly to expand Medicaid, just weeks before major changes could take place, is a disservice to the taxpayers. A delay in legislative action makes a lot of sense."

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

I have been following Virginia politics for about 30 years now. And I can say without any doubt that the dirtiest politician I ever saw was Don Beyer. I never saw a politician so willing to get in the gutter to fight dirty. He has no compunction about a dishonest attack.

Most people, and even a plurality of politicians have qualms about getting in the gutter to win a contest, safe to say Don Beyer never had that problem.

In 1989 a young and inexperienced, and some would say unqualified, Don Beyer ran for Lt. Governor. With his Dad’s money and the abortion issue to run on, Don ran what has to be one of the most negative campaigns in Virginia history. His opponent was state senator Eddy Dalton.

Eddy was, and is, a lovely lady, in addition to being a state legislator she was also a former first Lady of Virginia. Beyer portrayed her as an extremist who wanted rape victims to be forced to carry the rapists baby to term. His ads were so over the top that they made some Democrats cringe. Well, sadly Beyer won.

After two terms as Lt. Governor Democrats nominated Beyer for Governor. Beyer’s opponent was Virginia Attorney General James Gilmore.

Beyer fell behind by Labor Day and realized that to win he had take the low road-no problem there. So, he decided to claim that Gilmore was soft on crime. A tough case to make since Gilmore was a prosecutor. As Henrico's Commonwealth Attorney Gilmore oversaw an office that prosecuted hundreds, possibly thousands of criminals.

In an effort to smear and distort Gilmore's record Beyer found the most salacious cases and used them to paint a false narrative. He found instances of rapists and robbers and other miscreants getting plea deals. Surely Beyer argued that this proved that Gilmore was weak on crime.

Beyer then sandbagged Gilmore. He waited to spring his attack during a statewide debate, knowing Gilmore would not be familiar with all those cases without reviewing the files.

Plea deals are part of the judicial system and they vary with each case. Beyer knew that but didn't mind trying to create a false impression about Gilmore's record as a prosecutor.

For Gilmore to go back and look at those cases and respond in the media would no doubt cause grief for the families to have to go back through the details. And Beyer knew that by the time Gilmore responded to each case the media would have lost interest. Damage done! It was a dishonest attack on Gilmore’s record and Beyer knew it.

Well, fortunately for Virginia Don Beyer lost the race to Jim Gilmore. And I thought Beyer was done. But he had other ideas. He stayed in the 8th congressional district and waited for Jim Moran to retire. I must say I kind of miss Jim Moran. Sure he may have been a crook, and sure he was a liberal, but as long as there wasn't too much alcohol running thru his veins he could be a charming man. Beyer has none of Moran's charm. Beyer is just venial and mean.

And now Beyer continues his trek on the low road of politics.

His latest target for distortion? EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. Beyer sent this tweet out over the weekend:

"The latest outrage is the news that Scott Pruitt secretly worked out a special deal on condo rent with an industry lobbyist who represents companies regulated by the EPA.”

Pruitt is from Oklahoma and has a family there, so when he is in Washington he rents a room in a couple’s condo for 50 dollars a night. How can that possibly be unethical? It is not.

Washington DC is a company town and the company is the Federal government. Virtually everyone in DC has a connection to a Federal agency, a lobbyist or Congress. I suppose Pruitt could sleep on a park bench in Lafayette park, but he wanted a warm bed. And if he did sleep on a park Bench no doubt Beyer would claim that he kicked off a more deserving, and longer tenured, homeless person. I can see the Washington Post headline now:
“Trump Appointee Kicks Homeless Person Off A Park Bench.”

Beyer is trying to imply that since it was a “secret deal” and that the condo is owned by a “power couple” and since at least one of the owners “works for a fossil fuel proponent” there must be something corrupt in this arrangement. Nonsense.

What is a "secret special rent deal"? Not sure, but as long as the landlord knows what the rent is, and the renter knows what the rent is, you have a deal. A secret deal? Who else needs to know what the rent is?

There is no evidence of any wrong doing by Scott Pruitt, just Don Beyer smearing a good public servant and trying to hound him into resigning.

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson are thought to be the founders of the Democratic Party. And for years Democrat state parties held fundraising dinners, called "Jefferson-Jackson day dinners." They were proud that those two men called themselves Democrats.

But Marxism is a funny thing. It seeks to rewrite, and consciously ignore the context of history. Yes, we had slavery in America and it ended in 1865. It ended by blood and the inspiring words of men like Thomas Jefferson. By contrast I read the other day that slavery didn't end in Saudi Arabia until 1962.

Like the mindless sheep they lead, the Virginia Democrat party has decided to go along with other Democrat state parties and drop the name "Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner."

Democrats all across the country have renamed their dinners, I wouldn't be surprised if they use such orwellian sounding labels, like the "Peoples Day Dinner", or the "Bella Abzug Dinner". Maybe one day the "Collin Kapernick(sp?) dinner."

Well, here in Virginia we have always taken pride in one of our greatest sons, Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was the author of one of the greatest documents that was ever produced. A document, the Declaration of Independence, which set up the American government. Most of the bill of rights came, in some cases word for word from Jefferson's Declaration.

Virginians, even Democrats, should take pride that Jefferson was a son of Virginia. But Democrats are not proud to call him one of theirs. In fact they find even his name unappetizing. They don't even want his name associated with their dinner.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

The following is a release from Mike Thompson, President of the Thomas Jefferson Institute:

"The Department of Interior's off-shore gas and oil development plan places Virginia in a unique position to be one of its greatest beneficiaries with increased job creation, economic growth and strengthened national security.

By developing what could be our abundant offshore resources in the Atlantic Ocean, we can fill a critical need in meeting our long-term energy needs, stabilizing energy costs and contributing to the U.S. becoming truly energy independent.

A late January Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategies survey for us asked if Virginians support off-shore drilling if it could be done in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. The answer showed drilling was supported by a 55-39% margin. The survey further showed that every region of the state supports off-shore drilling, In the Hampton Roads area, where off-shore drilling will have a largest impact, it was supported by a 55% to 41% margin. Northern Virginia was least supportive showing 50% support with 45% in opposition (full results found on our website: www.thomasjeffersoninst.org).

These results are encouraging for those who believe that America can become energy independent as well as a major supplier of critical energy needs for our allies in an increasingly dangerous world. And, as I said earlier, more supply should create pressure to keep our energy prices lower."

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About Me

I am one of those rare birds who grew up in Fairfax County. I went to George Mason University and majored in government and politics. I started my career in politics as a student volunteer with the Stan Parris for governor campaign in 1989. We didn’t win, but I fell in love with Virginia politics.
As a student at GMU I became active in politics. I was Chairman of the College Republicans, Co-Chairman of Students for Allen, member of the Fairfax County Republican party, and served as a legislative intern for Delegate Dave Albo.
After college I worked for Morton Blackwell at the Leadership Institute. At the Institute I helped train hundreds of conservative activists all across the country.
I also produced a weekly radio feature called 'My Virginia Political Minute' which was carried on the "Neo View" radio show in southwest Virginia. Currently I do lobbying and consulting work in Richmond.